After a grueling and immensely exciting season of NCAA volleyball, fans have finally found their final four teams, which will take part in the semi-finals of the competition. These teams are Nebraska, Penn State, Louisville, and Pittsburgh. After numerous trials and tribulations, all of them have established themselves as the best teams of the AVCA, and one of them will take home the 2024 NCAA title.

But, after that, the volleyball fans might feel a bit hollow as the sport they enjoyed week in and week out with brilliant matches will be gone for some months. This is the unfortunate truth of season-based sports, which every fan has to go through. But, for them, the 2025 NCAA Tournament is going to start with a blockbuster tournament in itself with the AVCA First Serve Showcase. It will bring the fans right back into the game they love and adore.

AVCA First Serve Showcase History

The first iteration of the AVCA first serve showcase tournament was started in 1995, which the volleyball federation called the Showcase tournament. This tournament was held at the beginning of every season, with four teams belonging to the top 15 kicking off the season. The tournament then went on until 2012, having great success among the crowd as it helped start the season in a blockbuster manner.

The AVCA First Serve Showcase will be in Lincoln in 2025. The 5 matches will be played from Aug. 22-24. Last season, Nebraska, Kentucky, Wisconsin, and Louisville played on a Tuesday in Louisville.

The showcase will likely be at Pinnacle Bank Arena: https://t.co/Zs6kDAeHPU.

— Abby Barmore (@Abby_Barmore) December 17, 2024

This tradition was then restarted in 2024, remodeled as the AVCA first serve showcase tournament, which would also feature four teams helping start the season. In an official dialogue with the fans, the AVCA CEO, Dr. Jamie Gordon, spoke about the tournament, saying, “The AVCA is very excited to bring together four teams of this caliber to get the new season started.”

He continued, “AVCA First Serve offers another way to showcase the sport and continue the momentum from the record-setting 2023 season.” The four teams participating in the tournament were Louisville, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Kentucky. Louisville ended up defeating the Badgers with a scoreline of 18-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-20, while Nebraska defeated Kentucky by 25-21, 22-25, 25-15, 25-20. This helped start the season in a brilliant way and gave the fans a glimpse of what they’re about to witness next year. Thus, this tradition is all set to be continued.

AVCA First Serve Showcase 2025

The 2025 AVCA first-serve tournament will be held in Lincoln, Nebraska, with the Huskers being on top form this season. This news was reported by Lincoln Journal Star’s Amie Just, who said that the AVCA had posted about the tournament in its calendar and had listed the city as the location. The dates are set to be between August 22nd through August 24th.

This time the event’s team will increase as it is set to go up from four to eight, which will play in the first six matches of the NCAA season. Tickets for this event will probably be available during the summer, with the participating teams not being confirmed yet. Thus, this event has increased fan’s curiosity as they expect blockbuster games throughout the whole competition.

Another thing that might increase fan’s curiosity heavily is the fact that out of the four teams that participated this year in the tournament, all four of them have made it into the regional final, with two of them even making it into the Final Four. Thus, fans will have huge expectations from the team that makes it to the tournament. Hopefully, they live up to them.